Retriever Tune-Up Drill : 5 Water Blinds Daily For 5 Days

Tune-up drills are strictly cold blinds on Day 1, so much more casting. This is day 3, notice the first 2 blinds are pretty rough and she smooths out starting with blind#3...with young dogs especially it is a good idea to run many blinds in one session. Also the water is very warm and air is cool...I would not run a tune-up drill in water below 65 degrees F. At this young stage she tends to favor angled channel swims rather than going to land since most of here blind work had been angled channel swims. I typically run a tune-up day after day until she lines the majority of the blinds...I try to design the tune-up for her level with the expectation that it will take five days..it may take 3 days or it may take 10 days...the dogs performance (lining the majority of the blinds) determines when we are done and time to go to another location for a completely different tuneup drill.

I try to use a soft "chirp" whistle for close handles, a louder, prolonged whistle in running water or long distance handles. Blinds 1,2,3 are land-water-land-water re-entry concepts, while Blinds 4,5 are slot concept blinds. I like to have most bumpers floating in back waters so see learns to seek water on re-entries into channels...that is the case in blinds 1,3,4. I also like to have at least one blind where she has to drive out of the shoreline so the shoreline does not become a mental wall in blinds...that is the case in blind#2.

If she runs a bad initial line, I will not stop her after entering water as I want her to seek water and thus I accept a bad initial line into water with a young dog.

One mistake I made in this tuneup drill was not to wait longer after whistle stops in water...waiting and teaching the dog to tread water in neutral until casted is an important water blind skill. One thing I did do right was a longer, louder whistle in running water.

By Day 5, she remembers most of the lines. Each day I kennel the dog, go out plant 5 hidden blinds in the same locations and run the 5 blinds. Typically by day 3, I move the line back for longer entries if possible. Windy days are much tougher to hold the line in. I try encourage a strong initial line, even if it is wrong, then cast to correct the wrong line (no not that way, this way).

No e-collar corrections were used in any of these five blinds.